Kyo Sohma
Kyo Sohma is one of the main protagonist of the Fruits Basket series. He is cursed by the spirit of the cat of the Chinese Zodiac. He transforms into an orange cat whenever he is hugged by a member of the opposite gender or if he is under a great deal of stress. The cat is not an animal in the Chinese Zodiac, but legend has it that the cat may have been included had the rat not tricked it. As a result, he and Yuki Sohma (the rat) do not get along well, since Kyo blames Yuki for all his misfortune and mistreatment, and drove him to made a deal with Akito Sohma that if he could beat Yuki, he would not be confined to the Cat's Room. Appearance Kyo has bright orange hair and long bangs that hang over his orange-red eyes. He is near the same height as Tohru at the beginning of the series, and as the story goes on, he gets much more muscular and his build gets bigger, being very much taller than Tohru by the end of the Summer Vacation. He is defined even more from Yuki Sohma, as Kyo wears loose clothes, and dislikes tightness around his neck (similar to how a cat dislikes a collar). He wears a bracelet on his wrist that is red and white in the manga, but dark blue and white in the anime. He turns into a bright orange cat when hugged by a girl, and when his bracelet is taken off, he turns into a monster that smells of rotting flesh, better known as the cat's vengeful spirit. He is described as 'handsome' and 'orange'. He is very well liked by Tohru Honda. Personality Kyo is short-tempered, competitive, impulsive and rude, but he also has a soft side that he doesn't like people seeing. He gets embarrassed quickly and is overprotective of those he cares about. Kyo develops feelings for Tohru (as she is one of the only people to genuinely care for him) and is often seen blushing or frantically rephrasing sentences he says to her, so no one can catch on to his feelings. Some of his classmates call him Kyon-Kyon (in episode three of the first anime, which made him angry), Kyon or Kyon-Kyon (normally by Arisa Uotani), or Kyonkinchi which means 'Lucky Kyo', normally by Ayame Sohma and Shigure Sohma who both enjoy teasing him. An example would be that at one point Shigure pesters him about the reason he hates Yuki and Kyo stomps off to the forest, ready to cry. He also has a strong hatred for leeks, and the smell makes him sick. He also hates green onions and miso, unless it's in soup form. He also hates the dish liver and chives which Yuki requests once, which causes Kyo to yell at him. Story Overview History Death of his mother Kyo's mother committed suicide by jumping in front of a moving train, something his father repeatedly blamed him for. After a while, Kyo seems to believe it himself as well, but later he finds that his mother did not kill herself because she was disgusted of Kyo and what he was. She did it because she believed she doomed her family to a life of shame and ridicule for having the cat as a son. This belief was mainly reinforced by much tormenting from Kyo's father. Taken in by Kazuma After the death of his mother, Kyo's father rebuked him and denied to take care of his only son for he blamed Kyo for his wife's suicide. After seeing this treatment and how the last cat, Kazuma's grandfather, was treated by the family, he took Kyo in. After becoming Kyo's adoptive father he began training Kyo in martial arts to perhaps teach him discipline and to help Kyo become stronger in his life knowing it will be so difficult being cursed by the cat. Meeting Kyoko Honda As a child, Kyo met Kyoko one day while sitting outside near the Honda house. Kyoko was very curious about his hair color and proceeded to talk to him. He was very distant at first for he was not used to that many people wanting to associate with the cat. And, after telling him her name, was embarrassed that it was so similar to his. But Kyoko's persistence broke through as she would do the talking and all he had to do was listen. She continued on about how cute her daughter was, showing him a photo of Tohru and asking if he thought so too. He agreed in silence that she was. After that, she went on to say how strong Tohru was dealing with her father's death and letting her mother take her time; even though Kyoko was in shock during most of that time. After more meetings, Kyo would spy on Tohru and wish to speak to her. And then one day, while near the house, Kyoko lost Tohru while walking and became hysterical. Kyo tells her to wait at home and then promised, as a "man", he would bring her back safe at home. After passing Yuki he lost his hat as he was in a determined hurry to find her. Yuki takes the hat, puts in on, and walks around searching for Kyo and instead he finds Tohru. Kyoko is then seen searching for Kyo and tells him that she was found by a boy with Kyo's cap on. This enrages Kyo and he flees from Kyoko, hurt from not being to one to "save" her daughter. Before Summer Vacation Kyo's first appearance is when he jumps through the roof in attempt to attack Yuki. Kyo's Truth When his Juzu beads are removed, he turns into a grotesque monster with a revolting scent. After Kazuma Sohma removes his beads, Tohru Honda chases after him. After being injured by Kyo, who scratched her, she tells him that he's scaring her. But she also says that she wants them to be together, with Yuki Sohma watching the whole time (in the anime). He changes back into a human and tells Tohru that his mother lied and told him that she loved him, but Kyo knew she was afraid. He said that he had no problem with his mother being afraid of his true form. Then he hugged Tohru and asked, "Why?" He changed into a cat and Tohru carried him home. During Summer Vacation With the Sohmas and Tohru, Kyo goes for summer vacation at the Sohma's summer house by the beach. When his turn reached, Kyo goes to the summer house to meet Akito. Akito warned Kyo about falling in love with Tohru because he belonged to Akito, his "god", and his role as a cat, where he must stay confined in a house for the rest of his life. After Summer Vacation When he was walking towards his house to confront his father, he met Akito. Akito told him that she had spoken to his father and he had agreed to destroy that cat's confinement room, giving him his freedom. He felt perplexed and stunned. Yuki was talking to some of their classmates when they mentioned that Tohru was being discharged from the hospital. He was stunned as he was the only one who did not know of her discharge date. He ran off to the hospital, to meet Tohru standing outside of the main entrance. But Tohru cried and ran off. Kyo chased after her and apologised for what he had done to her earlier. She accepted his apology and they embraced, neglecting the fact that he will transform into a cat. However, that did not happened as at that moment, Akito broke the curse. Unable to believe it, Kyo ripped off his Juzu beads bracelet and did not change, confirming that the curse had indeed been broken. At the end of the manga, Kyo was in the room with Tohru when Yuki walks in. He then walks out to allow Yuki to privately talk to Tohru. Fruit Basket Another Kyo is seen briefly in a flashback where the house servants remark how similar his son, Hajime, looks like him. Kyo is also seen in a memory flashback as silhouettes with Tohru, Machi, Yuki and his unknown younger sister as he played with Mutsuki when they were younger. Future Kyo and Tohru married, had at least one son, Hajime Sohma, and one granddaughter. Relationships :Main article: Kyo Sohma/Relationships The Cat of the Zodiac Kyo shares some traits with cats. He can possibly land on his feet. He dislikes water, hence hating to swim or go to a beach (shown when the Sohmas went for their summer vacation). Due to this, his mood changes drastically during rain, becoming restless, tired, moody, and more than easily agitated but at the same time no mood to argue or fight. He prefers to wear a lose-fitting t-shirt or jacket because he doesn't like tight clothing (especially around the neck, like cats hates collars). He has been shown often drinking milk, and becoming annoyed when finding out there wasn't anymore milk in the fridge when Ritsu was around. Once, he was even shown dreaming about fish, enjoying them. As Shishou mentioned, Kyo likes to hide behind walls when he wishes to talk to someone urgently (shown twice) like a cat. He seems to get frightened by loud noises too, becoming startled like a cat. He is also often seen sitting on a roof because like a cat, he is drawn to high places. Being cursed by the spirit of the cat, Kyo has orange hair, like orange fur on cats. His eyes seems to become silt-like when his cat spirit stirs in him, for example when he gets angry at Yuki, the Rat (or his 'natural' enemy). Shigure Sohma has said that the cat was the creature that was left out. His only purpose, he said, was to make the other Zodiac members feel better. 'Good' they think, 'At least I'm better off than him'. Trivia * It is not known whether Kyo really took over Shishou's dojo. *While the Sohmas think Kyo's other form represents the Cat's anger, in truth the Cat was never resentful. When God cast the curse to reincarnated all 14 of the Zodiac members, the Cat did not want to live again, as it had a good life. Thus the other thirteen shunned him; their scorn is what created the ugly of the Cat. *Onions and leeks (which Kyo dislikes) are toxic to cats because if ingested by them, they damage the red blood cells. As for miso (which Kyo also dislikes), it's made with salt and too much of it can give cats salt poisoning (miso has 3,728 milligrams of salt in it while an average-sized cat needs about 21 milligrams of salt per day and not more than 42 milligrams.) Gallery :Main article: Kyo Sohma/Gallery References Category:Sohmas Category:Cursed Sohmas Category:Males Category:Fruits Basket Characters Category:Students Category:Main Category:Characters